The Scottish Resistance
It’s a rare occasion when we feel compelled to salute Scotland’s mainstream media, but their restraint on discovering that a whole slew of PFI schools commissioned by Labour might be in danger of falling down at any moment was highly commendable.
Restricting themselves merely to excising all mention of Labour from their coverage, the press admirably refused to somehow contort the issue into a shape that could be used to attack the SNP.
They kept temptation at bay for a solid 24 hours before they cracked.
Alert readers may have spotted that the stories are all somewhat similar, by which we mean identical right down to the typo in the first paragraph (“to including”).
All are sourced largely from an opportunistic press release put out by the Scottish Conservatives, highlighting a bizarre suggestion made in 2014 that school inspectors should report on building standards as well as educational ones, which is a bit like asking lollipop ladies to produce reports on urban planning because they stand on roads all day.
We’re not absolutely sure which would be the least depressing conclusion to be drawn from the stories – that Scottish papers are so lazy they’re willing to publish any old drivel to fill some space and drive some clickbait hits, or that they’re so desperate for “SNP BAD!” stories they’ll just run an opposition party’s press releases unquestioned and largely unedited.
We’ll leave you to make up your own minds. But what seems inescapable either way is that the fight for decent journalism was given up on a long time ago.
Can’t thank you enough, Rev, for all your very observant work.
And from the new unionist hope for Scotland, “cuddly ruth”, the nice face of the Tories in Scotland…!
As i said in the previous topic.
…
“So…schools….
Labour blame the tories for non investment in old schools, despite the fact it’s the NEW schools labour built that are falling apart !
Tories blame the SNP for School inspectors not being structural engineers.
Lib dems….no idea, was not actually listening.
Remember though folks, yon SNP need to stop blaming everone else, like WM for example….hmmm…!
…..
Ruthie was so close to taking 2nd as well…never mind, maybe next time eh ?
Do the SNP not want to win the May elections, the dogs in the street knew fine well that this was coming. The lack of political acumen is absolutely shocking.
The press truly are a disgrace.
Both, conclusions, undoubtedly.
SNP x 2
The Edinburgh Evening News is a dire rag that ought to have remained true to its origins, publishing photographs of popular bands in Princess Street Gardens, and happy ramblers on Pentland walks.
In the last decade it’s turned itself into neo-con Conservative Party blotting paper.
The MSM in Scotland and the UK are shamelessly corrupt and mendacious. GTF MSM.
Just been watching Reporting Scotland. I know I shouldn’t, but, I’ll be 70 next year and life-long habits are hard to break at my age.
At least, finally, they reluctantly admitted, the schools were built on Labour’s watch, however, they then spoke to the various party leaders.
Dippity Doug tried to lay the blame on the Tories, but the Tank Commander and Wee Willie couldn’t help themselves – SNP Bad was their take.
It gets worse, we have to get out of the damned Union.
Let’s face it – when you have laid off most of your talented journalists and run the business on a shoe string with a few hacks to man the keyboards any press release already written is a gift.
The fact that is jives with your own politics is just a bonus.
Quality journalism would have taken the claim and analysed it and written a story based on the claim by one side and balanced it with the history of the events and the evidence available. We don’t get quality journalism, we get third rate propaganda.
Seems like the entire BUM is in rearguard action, having realised, at some point, that their propaganda is failing, due to the existence of web sites like Wings.
Looks like they’re working to Goebbels’ philosophy that if it is repeated often enough, no matter how fantastic it is, it will be assumed by the great unwashed to be true.
Journalism is dead in Scotland and the smell of decaying flesh is overpowering.
Theyre a bit weird,these papers.The more they hate the SNP,the more strange they look.
Publish because you’re damned?
They are getting ever more shrill – the unionist parties and their online supporters. So far so manageable.
The media however has taken it up a few notches recently that moves things into pretty sinister territory.
I can’t accept that there is another country in the world that has a media who resolutely try and undermine the skills, achievements and confidence of their citizens and government at every opportunity. All to keep it under the control of its neighbour. I’d be wary in fairly recent times of calling Scotland an oppressed nation in case of leaving myself open to ‘tinfoil hat’ jibes. Scotland is. We are.
Notwithstanding the fact that the buildings were apparently checked just several weeks ago and given the all clear by ESP.
Opportunist liars.
Another day of BBC led SNP press monstering, once again using SLabour PFI disasters, shock.
This time they really could scare and lie hard enough to make some people not vote SNP. Governments do tend to get blamed for this sort of thing.
Chief pig pokers finances get rumbled, his tank commanding lacky in Scotland runs around playing Where’s Wally, they all shafted Scotland during our referendum and now they want education inspectors to compose building standards reports?
GTF you bunch of warmongering inbred orcs!
Boycott the BUM and lets fumigate Holyrood – Yes2snp2.
You know what the real issue here is? A 12 year old girl died as a part of this. Labour, not wanting to take the blame and instead point the finger is UTTERLY beyond reproach and the press joining in to score political points in Scotland are sick!
Rant over, I’ll get off the box now and let someone elses blood boil.
I was “questioned” by someone on Twitter in a referral to an article printed after the Liberton tragedy:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/02/edinburgh-schools-safety-wall-collapses-keane-wallis-bennet-liberton
It basically boiled down to “Edinburgh’s schools were inspected in 2012-2013, and the BAD SNP Kenny McAskill didn’t notice any problems then, so it’s the BAD SNP’s fault that girl died.” (I paraphrase, but only just)
Only neither Kenny McAskill nor the Scottish Government do school safety inspections – the City Council does. And guess what?
So in other words, the council’s surveys not only failed to detect the defective wall which later killed a student, but if “all our schools” included those built under PPP, then they also failed to detect the flaws which have now shut down 17 schools. As I’m not a resident of Edinburgh I don’t know – but the fact remains that Liberton was built 60 years ago: these 17 schools were built in this century. Missing warning signs is bad enough, but buildings are supposed to last a bit longer than ten bloody years.
This is an unmitigated disaster. Hell mend Labour for risking the lives of children on a get-rich-quick scheme.
Yoons talking to Yoons though!
Funny that…Scottish Conservatives expect HMI of Schools in Scotland to include structural engineering surveys within their reports, but the Conservatives have never asked their English counterparts to adopt the same.
And wind pish of full…Rearrange these words to unravel Scottish Conservative rhetoric
radioscotland news at 7.30
led with the school story
included the PFI dimension
and, surprise surprise, never mentioned Scottish Labour.
You could almost here somebody saying
“Don’t Mention The Labour”
Macca73 wrote:
“You know what the real issue here is? A 12 year old girl died as a part of this.”
Precisely, and you shouldn’t be making excuses for pointing out the truth. Your post was hardly a rant and even if you could class it as one you have every right to be angry over this fiasco.
And y’know what? Look at the scum BUM all falling into line and pumping out the latest round of deception yet we’ll still see people supporting those rags, buying them, posting direct links to them, frequenting their controlled comment sections and various other ways and offering endless lame excuses for doing so.
We’ll hardly hurt them by helping to fund their next acts of deception, will we! And some people wonder why we struggle to combat this deception with the truth. Before you know it some bright spark will be along any minute now with a petition to have the establishments media investigated by the establishment.
😉
“Just been watching Reporting Scotland.
At least, finally, they reluctantly admitted, the schools were built on Labour’s watch, however, they then spoke to the various party leaders.
Dippity Doug tried to lay the blame on the Tories, but the Tank Commander and Wee Willie couldn’t help themselves – SNP Bad was their take.”
STV did the exact same thing, barely mentioning that this was Tory and Labour policy which was opposed and subsequently scrapped by the SNP(literally 10 seconds of airtime!) while abruptly cutting off the First Minister’s comments and giving equal time to Kezia Dugdale and Willie Rennie and giving a platform to Ruth Davidson to lie and smear the Scottish government.
SNP are way too passive for my liking. Once again they’ve let the Yoon press to muddy the waters. Instead of hammering Labour and the Tories over the weekedn for the PFI scandal, we have Ruth and the Tories *attacking* the SNP. If they had been put on the defensive from the beginning, they wouldn’t be chancing their luck by feeding SNP BAD headlines.
Building faults in all these schools are the result of shoddy workmanship from the drawing board to the builders.
An enquiry into the building of these schools should be heard, and blame attached where it belongs.
Prosecutions off any person or persons flouting building regulations on these buildings should also take place.
Clerk of works and other in building inspectors should not walk away from this.
Yup, them yoons are everywhere…
The Northern Scot (local Fri paper up here) had a front page column stating ‘SNP Office Under Fire on Data Protection’
The paper was carrying a story that the local SNP office breached confidentiality by leaking the story that she applied to work gratis at the local office.
This was brought up by SLAB candidate Sean Morton whilst fearmongering the public into thinking that constituency details were not secure.
Yoons.
Tory press office doing their red Tory bedfellows a big favour by deflecting attention from the real culprits. The No Scotland campaign still alive and well.
Anyone who knows anything about these contracts knows that Scottish Government has no locus over such school or hospital maintenance
I think this issue is a deal-breaker. It could have been argued that the anti-SNP stories were the fine upstanding press holding government to account. But this, deliberately distorting facts that not only demonise one side but also let the wrong-doers go Scot free? We have crossed the Rubicon now & Scotland, in my opinion, is an occupied country.
Forth Road Bridge re-run!
Channel Four News on now failed to mention Labour in their report on Edinburgh schools. Astonishing
@Grouse Beater,
The Edinburgh Evening News has very little to do with Edinburgh these days – It is mostly written and published from Sheffield.
There is hardly anyone left in Orchard House working on it so they now call it the “Sheffield Evening News”.
Scotsman is going the same way – soon to be “Sheffieldman”
It is only a matter of time…
Tick – Tock.
Sorry for a very early o/t comment, but this is on RT website,cannot see it online in uk media.
Chilcot redacted? Spies to scrutinize Iraq war report before publication https://www.rt.com/uk/339180-chilcot-iraq-security-spies/
C4 teatime news surprising just there as they also take exact same BBC Scotland approach PFI schools falling down, with no mention of Labour, SLabour, Gordon Brown, anything UK.gov and no one except the fairies cooked it all up.
Wait folks! It’s going to be okay! Nick Robinson is being parachuted in to do a totally unbiased news report on Edinburgh schools for tomorrow’s R4 news.
starlaw wrote:
“Prosecutions off any person or persons flouting building regulations on these buildings should also take place. Clerk of works and other in building inspectors should not walk away from this.”
Agree 100% and the main offenders directly involved with the building which killed that wee lassie should all be up on manslaughter (or similar) charges but i’ll not be holding my breath.
If it is any consolation young people simply bypass the MSM. Even the unionist ones. It might be happening slower than we’d like but, tick tock.
There is an extract below from the Scottish Parliament’s official records which provides information on Liz Smith’s (former Conservative MSP) intervention which is now being used by the Ruth Davidson Party in its election campaign to place blame on the SNP Government.
Smith refers to ‘condition of school buildings’ in this question: in a separate question she (only) refers to the ‘quality of teaching facilities’. (By the way, the question in the extract below appears to be as close as any of Smith’s parliamentary questions get to the issue of today.)
The Government’s response to her clearly explains the different responsibilities of Education Scotland and Local Authorities. To claim now that Smith had in mind fundamental structural problems arising from the build phase of a school is really hard to sustain based on the way this (and her other questions in the record) were framed.
Question S4O-03379: Liz Smith, Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 11/06/2014
“To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the remit of Education Scotland school inspections to include the condition of school buildings.”
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19/06/2014
The response on that date was:
The Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages (Dr Alasdair Allan):
“School inspections aim to answer three questions: how well young people learn and achieve; how well the school supports young people to develop and learn; and how well the school improves the quality of its work.
Local authorities have responsibility for health and safety and the structural condition of buildings. Although Education Scotland does not inspect the structural aspects of a school, if it becomes aware of a health and safety issue during an inspection it follows up the issue with the school and the local authority to ensure that it is addressed. National guidance is provided to assist local authorities in assessing the condition of their school estate.”
Seems pretty clear! So just Tory spin aided by a compliant, biased and/or lazy press.
some actual facts
The ownership and maintenance of buildings under the PFI contracts is retained by the supplier, not the council.
The council may still own the land that they lease to the PFI supplier. They have as much responsibility for the construction as any tenant of a new home from a housing association. Their obligation is to pay rent and not damage it too much. They pay a service charge to keep it maintanined.
The applications for all the warrants and seeking of all approvals is the responsibility of the suppliers.
The onus to declare a building as complete is the applicant’s responsibility, not the council’s building control department who are obliged to accept or reject the submitted completion certificate with valid reasons if they reject it. The council are allowed to make ‘reasonable’ enquiry. They are not allowed to rip it apart.
Ergo. I conclude that the council are in fact the “wronged” party.
when considering that PFI was a forced funding route, the council appears even more to be trapped between a rock and a hard place.
So WHO IS TO BLAME for putting the councils in this position???
The Previous LibLab holyrood government Lapdogging to Brown and Blair’s “Building schools for the future” PFI banking bonus bonanza.
First question of the future holyrood enquiry….
Mr Brown, why did you insist that the Lib lab Scottish governemnt should force Scottish councils and NHS trusts to take such obvious “pig in a poke” deals?
Wait folks! It’s going to be okay! Nick Robinson is being parachuted in to do a totally unbiased news report on Edinburgh schools for tomorrow’s R4 news.
We’re doomed.
National says
“Edinburgh may have to knock down and rebuild some of the PFI/PPP schools closed on Friday, a top architect has warned. The cautionary advice from Professor Alan Dunlop came as Scotland’s largest teachers’ union, the EIS, called for an urgent review of all PFI contracts.”
It is my understanding that Building Inspectors examine the fabric of the building inside and out. To the best of my knowledge they do not have x-ray vision and neither do tthey drill into walls and insert a scope for a visual inspection just as they have been forced to do by the collapse. The faults that they are finding should have been spotted by the Clerk of Works or the Site Engineer at THE TIME OF CONSTRUCTION. As usual Davidson and Rennie are talking out of their arses. Of course the problem could lie within Edinburgh’s corrupt Buildings Dept!
Auld Rock
Keane’s tragic death is a separate (but not entirely unrelated) issue to the PFI schools. Liberton’s PE department was refurbished in 1986, long before PFI came about, so the wall which fell was probably 30 years old rather than 60 like the rest of the school. Labour had just regained control of the then Lothian Regional Council in 1986, after an unholy Tory-SDP-Liberal coalition in 1982. So, as ever, blame the Tories.
O/T
WTF, seriously WTF?
https://www.facebook.com/PentlandsCLP/?fref=ts
R Type
“We have crossed the Rubicon now & Scotland, in my opinion, is an occupied country.”
In my opinion, we have been occupied since the act of union. 1715, Culloden, and then the ethnic cleansing/genocide known as the clearances (round 1)are proof irrefutable.
I totally agree with you. This could be the final straw, if only the SNP had the bottle to go for the jugular. Assuming, nay hoping the general public will join up the dots for themselves, put down their shiny toys/switch off EastEnders and act just isn’t good enough. IMHO
R-type Grunt 19.45
Agreed- we, or rather they have crossed the Rubicon. I have never seen an example of press bias as blatant as this. They don’t care how it plays out in cyberspace and on forums like this. They don’t even care how it plays on their own online forums.
Even the yoon politicals must be embarrassed by this. Never has the press in this country sunk lower.
An occupied country indeed. We have no recourse as long as our countrymen keep buying this propaganda.
For God’s sake- anyone who is reading this who has erred recently- please, for the sake of this country and our future, please make a pledge: never to buy a print copy of the Scotsman, the Herald, the Record, the Evening News, the Evening Times or any of the anti-Scottish press.
I know I have said it before, but if Scotland does not get some sort of neutral TV news channel, things aren’t going to be changing any time soon.
That is, unless we change it of course, and we can only do that by making at start on May 5th.
I think anyone connected in even a slight way with building practices, will recognise the Clerk of Works should have been the quality control for the trades on site.
However, given the land, contract and reins were handed over to the private sector, with no role in the building by the local council, corners are cut, wages saved by the private sector.
It’s why you never have a public asset completely controlled by the other party. If the council’s inspectors had been in there, they would or should have been calling a halt to those walls.
Still beggars belief that Miller would throw those walls up like that.
It’s no wonder someone is saying they might have to be demolished, because this is very basic, so what else is wrong?
Watch out for the next line of attack. SNP are still using PFI. It’s started out there on the web.
I don’t know much about the construction industry but a friend of mine with over 50 yes experience in the trade says that the easily spotted flaw is allowing design and build.
If they can cut costs they will.
With design and build NO CLERK OF WORKS all done in house.
Bit like Gordzillas other triumph self regulation of the banks!!!! Doh!!!
PS Incompetence or corruption.Miller given gong.
“I can’t accept that there is another country in the world that has a media who resolutely try and undermine the skills, achievements and confidence of their citizens and government at every opportunity.”
The point is the print and broadcast media ISN’T Scotland’s media. It is controlled entirely outwith this country with editors told to follow the owner’s political leaning.
THIS (i.e. WoS, Bella(?), WGD, Newsnet, Bateman, Indyref2, Common Place etc) is Scotland’s REAL media; this is where you’ll get the truth and facts without the spin and lies of large Corporate interests.
And the beauty of it is this: we can shut them down (by not buying their propaganda rags); they’ll NEVER be able to shut us down).
The election in May is every bit about passing judgement on the BritNat media (indluding the Pedo Broadcasting Corporation) as it is on political parties. This May let us tell the BritNat corporate media that their propaganda will never beat the truth. Let us tell them that the information age has well and truly arrived and that we are an INFORMED population who will not yield to their outrageous propaganda. Let us vote in May to cock 2 x SNP fingers to the BritNat, foreign-owned, lying media and tell them to take their lies elsewhere.
Scotland is not for turning. May is simply the resumption of unfinished business.
Tam Jardine
What’s worse is the Sunday Herald that pretends to support independence but let’s a bunch of anti-SNP journalists take the chance to take the Union view.
I’ve got so fed up with this that I’ve cancelled the so-called paper and I hope many others do the same. All we have left is The National which so far is sticking to its promises, so I’ll keep buying it.
That Herald article has changed it’s picture title again.
It still carries the “SNP washed it’s hand etc etc” on the Web site but when you click and read it, no mention of the Tories.
Took 4 goes to archive too!
https://archive.is/PyTlR
Seems I’ve now been blocked from Edinburgh Pentlands Labour FB page. Must have got up someone’s nose. Result!
https://www.facebook.com/PentlandsCLP/?fref=ts
After the poor excuse for reportage covered so comprehensively by the Rev and others above, our friends in the channel that gives us “the news where you are” launched into a commercial plugging the multi talented team that will be covering the impending election- Bird , Campbell, Taylor, Robertson and Magnusson all eager and ready to go.
The lack of any awareness of the contempt with which they are regarded is impressive.
Complain if you like. It will have no effect
Saw a button badge today “Is that true? Or did you hear it on the BBC”
Depressingly, the answer would appear to be yes to both conclusions.
The media (I hesitate to call them ‘the Scottish media), have apparently set themselves up as the official opposition to the Scottish Government. I would say that in the interests of ‘bottom line’ economics, cut and paste click bait is the order of the day. In terms of their naked bias and personal political agendas, SNP bad in all things, is the be all and end all of their political output.
Scotland has no media with the exception of a growing online presence. In terms of broadcast and dead tree? Scots have no representative media that actually gives a shit what, at very least, half the population think.
Yeah, spooky or what?
The Edinburgh Evening News once carried a photograph of railings, just in case we didn’t know what railings looked like.
Standards these days.
Saw wee Ruth walking down Hanover St the day, looking quite forlorn.
Felt quite sorry for her,for a fleeting moment.
Turned the corner and there was yet another beggar.
Perspective.
So here we are again, ‘SNP accused’. Utter, utter infantile rubbish by the so called ‘Scottish media’. The fact that they have consistently included the same spelling mistake, just highlights how utterly cr*p the media in Scotland is.
Seriously, I’d get more reliable info from tea leaves than from the clowns in the so called ‘Scottish’ press.
Tomorrow: an iceberg melts in the arctic – SNP accused!! FFS.
Auld Rock says:
11 April, 2016 at 8:02 pm
It is my understanding that Building Inspectors examine the fabric of the building inside and out. To the best of my knowledge they do not have x-ray vision and neither do tthey drill into walls and insert a scope for a visual inspection just as they have been forced to do by the collapse. The faults that they are finding should have been spotted by the Clerk of Works or the Site Engineer at THE TIME OF CONSTRUCTION. As usual Davidson and Rennie are talking out of their arses. Of course the problem could lie within Edinburgh’s corrupt Buildings Dept!
I was thinking the same thing – does the tank commander realise the amount of work and technical expertise required, just to determine if the bloody wall ties were installed properly?
Of course she does, this is just more mischief making by the yoons, aided wonderfully as usual by a compliant press.
There’s only one way to deal with this:
SNP x 2
@Call me Dave
Herald completely changed the article which was originally the Liz Smith Conservative press release apparently, but left the comments on.
It’s done that before to try to show up the comments.
Dodgy Dave? Horrendous Herald. Dave’s more honest.
Attacking the SNP over this PFI scandal is a mistake for Labour, Tories and the media for it will surely turn around and bite them on the bum.
I think the SNP have been slow out of the starting block but may just be starting to get their act together over this.
“Sturgeon calls for inquiry into Edinburgh school closures”
https://archive.is/rsgFF
Saw wee Ruth walking down Hanover St the day, looking quite forlorn.
In one week last month, I saw Blair MacDougal, Jim Murphy and whatisface MacQuarrell of the BBC. Murphy’s looks nuts and he’s foghorn leghorn loud, Blair looks hungover depressed and MacQuarrie’s an ugly wee fat guy on a mission, in a fantastically expensive suit.
Asking lollipop ladies to produce reports on urban planning – great stuff Rev.
A press release from the Tories (blue department) who as per are opportunistically attempting to point the finger at the SNP as somehow ‘culpable’ because they wanted them to inspect schools mair often, which is to say ‘performance’ checks?
Not health and safety checks, which are actually the remit of the councils/contractors?
Every newspaper published in Scotland (the big wans) prints this press release and they think naebdy will notice?
Have you lost the fucking plot, journalists? Is that what ye are calling yersels?
You shower of spineless conniving bastards. How dae ye even look yersels in the mirror?
GIRUTFLOY
SNP x 2 In EU.
Oh, even better, the Herald has left the old link in place, but put the new article on it, as well as putting up the new article itself. The URL gives the headline, you can see it in the archive link:
http://archive.is/J3VBq
Note the URL given in the “saved from” box, and the actual headline, and compare to the headline and URL of Call me Dave’s link:
https://archive.is/PyTlR
The Herald hasn’t even got the brains to hide its deceit.
Thing is, all the old school buildings that Labour closed as being unfit for purpose and were subsequently turned into flats are still standing proud – Solid stone buildings erected on solid foundations and built to last for a hundred years and more, shut down by Labour purely to line the pockets of their pals and to serve their own narrow political agenda.
Now they really are taking the piss with the PFI links to Labour embargo , and this lot scream and shout about North Korea , compared to the Scottish media North Korea is a haven of press freedom and honest debate , the SNP need to get a f/n grip and soon , during this purdah period all parties are given equal air time use it on live feeds where it can’t be doctored , they need to get the labour link out there or the muppets who get their News from our unbiased media will start to believe the shit they hear as gospel truth , its fourth bridge on stilts , fight back and soon .
Any self respecting journalist would refuse to submit copy to these newspapers. A sorry indictment of today’s media. You should invite ethical subs to run a weekly print edition of WOS in a Eye format. It would finish them off..
http://www.scottishlabour.org.uk/blog/entry/we-need-a-forth-road-bridge-inquiry
Google yoon culture clamours for Forth Bridge inquiry and there is seventy thousand plus hits with the BBC first up
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-35037425
Will likes of scottishlabour, Pacific Quay crew, Herald etc be screaming again for PFI schools falling down inquiry?
Nothing yet. Maybe after May elections.
From the Herald 3rd February 2007!!!!
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12766277.School_PPP_scheme_a__apos_catastrophe_apos__for_pupils/
How many builders are there in Scotland? How many of them know what a wall tie is? How many of them will be giving forth about “cowboys, not even using a wall tie for a free-standing / partition wall”.
All the SNP need to do is keep on about how it’s 10 years or more ago – i.e. before their time.
The builders will do the rest.
Well, I’ve read almost every post here on the subject of school construction. My conclusion is as follows;
Balding guys over the age of 60 may possibly have a role to play in society after all. Hats off to them, they just seem to know about stuff like concrete and fixing things.
I look at walls and old blokes differently now. I wouldn’t even say I took them for granted before, they were just sort of there, in the way.
I have an urge to buy tools all of a sudden. Hammers and screwdrivers and chisels. Good ones too, none of your Chinese nonsense.
Then there’s those suede belt things for holding all the tools around your waist, right where you need them, like a gunslinger. Might even shave my scalp, leaving hair only at the sides.
That’s right, I’m a useful hands-on bastard. No doubt about it.
You talking to me? You talking to me? Well I’m the only one here..
I don’t agree that the SNP has been slow out of the blocks on this one. I reckon that, as usual, they are spot on with their response.
It upsets me as much as anyone else that our opponents appear to be able to do what they want with impunity. But the last thing that the normal part of the elecorate want is for the Scottish Government to come across as hysterical knee jerkers. We have to move away from politicians who can only talk the language of party politics.
The FM is treating the electorate as thinking adults and allowing them time to see the media and the various Tories in all their corrupt glory. This is in clear contrast to the infantilisation of the electorate that is the deliberate policy of our opponents.
Then she makes the statements that tell the electorate that she will take all the necessary courses of action. The confidence of our people in their government is further enhanced and a bit more dirt is shovelled into the hole our opponents now inhabit.
Just in case:
http://tinyurl.com/j8p6hzx
@NeoconNat
If it’s a tool you’re looking for, try looking in the mirror.
AND WE DID IT DELIBERATELY
Lord George Foulkes Labour 9:50 am, 8th October 2009
For years, SNP members attacked the Labour Party for all the money that we spent on PFI and PPP school building programmes. Now, Dave Thompson and others are saying that we did nothing at all. They cannot have it both ways.
The Scottish Futures Trust is an albatross that is not really flying yet. I will illustrate that with a case involving the City of Edinburgh Council. Under a Labour council and a Labour Executive, there was a continuous programme of the building and major refurbishment of primary and secondary schools, including Craigroyston primary school*, Castleview primary school**, Forthview primary school***, Craigour Park primary school****, Craigmount high school***** and St Thomas of Aquin’s high school. I could go on naming all the schools that were built or refurbished under Labour.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/sp/?id=2009-10-08.20379.4
* Shut
** Shut
*** Shut
**** Shut
***** Shut
****** Praise the Lord!
I am gobsmacked. Completely. It’s already been bad enough, but I could never have imagined anything as brass-necked as this. It takes political lying up another whole bunch of notches. Plus being being self-serving collaboration of a truly astonishing kind.
No, you can’t call this journalism. Nothing like. It’s actually a direct assault on the very underpinning of democracy.
Hmmm, I wonder if they have worded this very carefully. There is the Representation of the People Act (1983), after all…
Arthur correct. Act in haste repent at leisure. Nicola and her team are a responsible government. They lead by policy and by example. They are where they are because they don’t play the blame game. If challenged they will defend. But they will not be led by the press.
Tomorrow’s National
https://twitter.com/ScotNational/status/719629872801390592?lang=en-gb
Ave got ah 45 yr auld S Wing original NcN, tell me where you live I show you how it Fly,s
Hurry Up,Hurry Up,Come On…..
The Yoon response to this situation is typical……’the need for speed’ has led to stupid ill considered statements from Red/Blue Tories branch managers (and a just as stupidly complicit MSM).
I have no doubt any mistakes made during construction were also caused by pressure being applied to the workers to get it done….times money you know (aka the screaming skulls).
It all starts at the top,thank goodness for the considered approach (as always),Sturgeon is a shining light,we are lucky to have her and her team.
The only ‘need for speed’ I see is to get shot of this bunch of immature dangerous Yoon numpties,I wid trust them as far as I could throw them.
SNP x 2
Next we’ll have Labour Branch Office Basket Weaving, Pottery and Flower Arranging Club complaining that the original builders were infiltrated by the SNP 10+ years ago and that it was an inside job.
Nothing will surprise me anymore.
The shock on the faces at work asked how safe their children were at the PFI funded schools. Oh how we laughed!
Labour yer teas oot!
Watching the report on BBC 1 national news- the young lady outside the parliament suggested that if there was one positive to be taken from the school closures in Edinburgh, it is the city of Edinburgh has rallied round and churches, universities, the parliament and businesses have given up space to help out.
Surely the real UKOK positive has been the BBC, Channel 4, STV, the Herald, the Scotsman, the Evening News etc etc all rallying round to protect the labour party. They have formed a ring of steel around scottish labour in their time of need- it is almost humbling… like the spirit of the blitz.
Altogether now…. land of hope and glooooory…
Over and above this I’m noticing something very instructive. All across the country the Tory party is energetically attacking the Lapour vote and suggesting on pamphlet after pamphlet that Labour voters are turning to the Tories.
Much of the Press is in on this plan to put the Tories into second place in Scotland by taking Labour votes and giving them to the Tories.
But the incoherent Labour Party is still attacking the SNP not the Tories which indicate just how far Labour has lost it in Scotland.
Ronnie
Just to keep the ‘banter’ going for our friend..
I doubt he’d appreciate the beautiful balance of the ‘S’ wing with you coming at him. Something the yanks got right, the Harley of hammers.
@Arthur Thomson (10.02pm)
I agree fully with the sentiment of your comments.
Although there is an election campaign to be won, the SNP remains today the Government of Scotland, with a responsibility to assist ALL those being adversely affected and at potential risk. As the Forth Bridge ‘crisis’ showed, thankfully the SNP Government is ‘competent’ in times of difficulty.
Also, the case against Labour’s PPP/PFI legacy does not rest (at least for now) on the evidence of the Edinburgh schools’ flawed construction. I suspect it will take a full enquiry to understand whether this Edinburgh case is an example of an inherent flaw in the financing model itself or due to other particular factors in Edinburgh that may not occur in PFI projects elsewhere?
Scotland 2016 not one mention of the word Labour in their report on this scandal. Unbelievable.
BBC Scotland’s flagship daily political programme ignores the political aspect of Labour’s Edinburgh Schools PFI scandal.
Again unionist media’s super injunction not to mention LABOUR holds firm.
STV Tonight preferring to discuss rich Tories finances which everyone knows are dodgy and has been done to death in the media.
If PFI built tanks….
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/51757000/jpg/_51757865_011576687-1.jpg
@Dave McEwan Hill
The other thing the Herald at least is doing, is giving the Greens coverage to help split off the SNP vote. SH on Sunday, Herald today. They’ve given up on Labour. A minority SNP Government will be good enough for them all as it pulls its teeth.
What Stu does so brilliantly is demonstrate the lies and collusion between the “press” hacks and the party hacks. The giveaway typo is a perfect example. They don’t even bother to proof read the drivel they print.
You would think they would die of shame.
Imagine having newspapers that were worth reading, with actual news and comment which we could be proud of. Fortunately, there’s WoS and a few other worthwhile blogs.
Although as a party member, I get frustrated that the SNP leadership doesn’t come out swinging, their style is proving correct.
They are letting the guilty party set out their stall, then they know the key lines of attack, rather than respond piecemeal, and the hated tit for tat.
Labour have no where to go on this,it will be the final nail (pardon the pun) in that SLab coffin, that has beckoned for so long. It will set out their diabolical lack of financial competence clearly, as well as their disgusting willingness to shit all over the electorate to look good building stuff.
@ defo
am no tellin you anything ever again ya klipe NcN wid hiv thought ah wiz talkin aboot a Motorbike , he wid hiv hear the engine on ah Mbike & jumped oot the road, but he widdna hear the S Wing flying lol, lumpen fuck lol.
Brilliant article especially having the spelling/syntax error repeated from the Tory press release which confirms the source if they were daft enough to deny complicity in Tory spin.
However the important thing for me as a democrat is to ensure a level playing field and therefore compliance with the Represenation of the People Act,as amended,and ensuring this costly exercise in Tory publicity is added to their campaign expenses.
Let us say,as a respected auditor,that my estimate of £4,000 per newspaper page is added.
BTW that elephant in the room with the red rose is beginning to smell.Why can the Yoons not smell it too or are they inured to it by the manure of the corruption they wallow in?
Flicking through the channels I came across Adam Tomkins at some debate saying education is a privilege not a right.
I could never be a Conservative.
If Scottish Labour had used PFI to build a new Forth Bridge
https://c4.staticflickr.com/5/4009/4581387539_66328fb7f4_b.jpg
Another archive of that constantly changing article in the Herald, using wayback this time as I dont want to accidentally overwrite the other one.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160411215742/http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14419144.Pupils_to_return_to_class_next_week_after_Edinburgh_school_closures_spark_calls_for_a_review/
Comments on there about the completel change, probably get deleted soon as they get around to cleaning up the page to hide the evidence. Note the article apparently written “5 hours ago”, but first comment at 1:44pm Mon 11 Apr 16, last comment at 10:19pm Mon 11 Apr 16 – getting on for 9 hours later, not 5.
Sorry to be boring, I just like proof of deception.
Hope Rock notices that The National is the only paper to mention Labour and PFI on its front page banner headline two days running.
Nana @ 10.25pm
Its a good headline but its not quite Carling.
Headline should have been:
CHILDRENS LIVES AT RISK.
LABOURS PFI DISASTER.
Gordon Brown and the Labour party culpable.
Or something along these lines. Can anyone imagine the
headlines if the SNP had been responsible for this utter
clusterfuck?
As far as I am concerned this shows up the filth media
in this Country for what they are.
They are beneath contempt, the scum of the Earth.
Somewhere in Scotland…
Kez “Deputy” Dug the Dugdale, heroic temporary leader of the new, new, new much better and we’re dead sorry it wiznae mah fault Labour Branch Office is composing an email.]
Dear former Socialsts,
As you will have gathered the 2016 Campaign to re elect us to make me 1st Minister and beat THEM is now fucked.
The PFI thingy that I would have been for and against at the same time has blown up in our faces. There’s weans laughing at us in the streets. A wee dug peed on mah leg when I was hiding from THEM SNP bams up a close and Jackie “back of a fag packet” Baillie can’t even raise a smarmy grin.
I’ve contacted Jerry Corbyn and he want’s my membership card back along with my red rosette.
I’ve contacted Big Gordy Broon but he said you’re on your own and he’s not coming back.
Our daily propaganda for the masses paper, The Daily Record have told us they can’t risk another Vow as they’re fucked as it is. They only have Arnold Clark propping them up along with the rangers. Although I’ll still have my column so at least I have that going for me.
All I can advise you is to go home and prepare yourselves for the dole as we’ll be lucky to get 4th place.
Yours Socialistically speaking,
Kez
PS. Told ye APD would have saved us but would you listen? Naw!
Hi Brus MacGallah.
Your link to the Herald was archived 9 hours ago.
Don’t link to live BUM pages – it just sustains their propaganda!
http://archive.is/lyu8p
It’s very sad to see this very serious situation being used by the teacher unions, the press, EBC & STV to try and get their excuses in first. The head of Edinburgh council knows where this is going as do the other yoon political parties. Whatever defects are in these schools the ultimate responsibility lies with the builder and BUILDING CONTROL who must have signed off on the completion certificate.
Ruth Davidson is a very nasty piece of work trying to shift the blame onto the SNP 10 -15 years after the work was done and had absolutely nothing to do with these contracts. Evil dangerous person.
Don’t think Kezia really understands the reality of the problem, she’s just saying it’s nothing to do with labour. In between pool shots.
Wee Wullie just hasn’t a clue a complete NUMPTY.
The SNP IS CLEAN AS A WHISTLE ON THE PFI SCORE. the yoons are all in it together up to their necks, and will gang up on the SNP. The criminals have taken over the jail and are blaming the warders.
LETS. HAVE AN ENQUIRY INTO WHICH POLITICAL PARTIES ALLOWED CHILDREN SAFETY TO BE PUT AT RISK FOR MONEY. the builder, building control and Edinburgh council are toast IMHO.
So the papers unquestioningly print what the opposition hand them and then the BBC source their news from the printed press. Not a journalist among them. And they wonder why they get accused of bias. Meh!
Dave McEwan Hill@10.29
That’ll be the cover for when all those postal votes,that Ruth Davidson is expert on predicting,turn out to be ex-Labour voters mesmerised by the tory pamphlets then ‘voting’ tory.Alledgedly?
Simples.Postal voting fraud sorted.
If anybody thinks we won’t be getting every and I mean EVERY trick in their dirty book thrown at us(think Indyref1) for May’s election then they’re kidding yourself.
This is their armageddon in Outer Jockland and Bitter Together are going down fighting.
As yesindyref2 says the scum BUM are pushing the Green/Rise 2nd list vote nonsense in a co-ordinated pattern as another attack line,and they’re so fucking thick they don’t understand that nobody cares what they’re pushing anymore.
AAAHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Once again, Stuart excels himself in the noble tradition of investigative journalism. If the truth is out there,Stuart will find it. He is an essential and formidable ally to have on our side.
We are done with this endless tide of sneering contempt for Scotland and its people.The Unionist parties are, like stagnant pond life, putrid and full of festering filth.They are deluded souls and hypocrites whose greed and selfishness knows no bounds.
We can see right through them as we continue on our journey to freedom.As we proceed,the light shone by Stuart will move with us until the job is finished.We are on our way.
SNP X 2
‘kidding themselves’ even lol
Who runs Building Control?
Local Authorities administer the Building Standards system and are responsible for granting permission for work to be done (Building Warrant) and for a completed building to be occupied (Completion Certificate).
Labour are responsible for the PFI contracts, the builders are responsible for the shoddy workmanship and the local councils responsible for failing to properly supervise the construction.
Questions must be asked and answered. Some may even deserve jail.
Sorry for spoiling your fun Ronnie, but anyway Estwings are old tech. Paslode is the arthritic old Joiners/psychopaths tool of choice these days, although there’s lots to be said for compressed air… bypass the safety & you can fire it like a machine gun. Watch the cheeky wee fuck apprentice dance 😉
Expect Pacific Quay to hurriedly organise a special live broadcast starring Gordon Brown in front of a specially invited, ‘ordinary’, audience, so as to spell out clearly to the Scottish people why it would be wrong to blame Labour for this PFI disaster, and in fact to argue with all his reputed passion and statemanship that it is actually the SNP who are the culprits, since they have been in power now for years and years, have they not?
I worked as a teacher in one of the “old schools” refurbished by Glasgow City Council under PFI in 2001/02.
It was a complete shambles as teachers concerns were not taken on board.
For example: there was a worktop arrangement put against back walls in classrooms with no storage space underneath which we asked for.
The teachers’ desks had no drawers and when computers were added a few years later they took up at least a quarter of desk space. Many of us kept the old desks but many in the new builds didn’t have that option.
I also worked in 3 new build PFI schools between 2003 – 2005 and found them even worse for facilities.
I’ll give you one example: there were no book stores which for an English department is a serious lapse.
In the PFI school I worked in the Modern Languages Dept and the English Dept came to an agreement that they would all use the English dept’s base in exchange for turning the ML Dept’s base into a book store which was inadequate then.
In short, PFI has been a disaster for Scotland and schools, possibly hospitals, too.
Probably mor usd to a ball pen.
Kim Jong Davidson says:
It’s Nicola’s fault because we asked her on two occasions to get the council to check their own buildings that they built under their own scheme with their own political parties backing and financial deal that the SNP said was no good therefore sod all to do with the SNP
The definite conclusion is it’s the SNPs fault for sure without question how could it not be
Kezia says:
We had to build crap schools because the schools we had at the time were even crappier and I make no apology for the crappy schools that were needed to put our little babies into and our kiddies fur their Educashun
Even though walls would fall down on our children in later life their death will have counted for something and they would have had a chance at life
Conclusion: Brain dead in every department
Willie Rennie says: We need to look at this again in the cold light of day with a cool head and clear our minds of blame but lets face it, the SNP dropped the ball on this one
Conclusion: Willie thinks he’s a gunslinger but nobody else knows he is
Patrick Harvie says:
I cannae get the gas tae light in ma hoose because there’s to much flames and we cannae burn it all at once
No conclusion
Eh? I thought I was supposed to be living in a one party state so why the fuck are they printing a press release from the C******** party and passing it off as news!
Useless bastirts..
@Jas
With Brown’s grasp on reality he’s more likely to VOW to have a word with Peter Capaldi and go back to 2003 to fix it.
These newspapers take advantage of people because they know that most people haven’t a clue about building regulations, PFI contracts or if school inspectors should be surveying the buildings and doing health & safety checks.
I’ve spent two days reading up about PFI and I still haven’t a clue who should be doing what.
I think the SNP have been slow out of the starting block but may just be starting to get their act together over this.
this pfi scandal will run and run, we are in this for the long game
the snp will win holyrood, with or without the shrieks of these unionists, but the echo of their shrieks about pfi and offshore accounts will echo down the next few years.
carmicheals lying outburst didnt stop the libdems getting wiped out, but he ensured that he is toxic going forward. he is nowhere to be seen.
there is no more capitalism, socialism, etc, going forward, it is unionism vs independence, and we have just been handed 2 pieces of very important ammunition.
the panama papers have only just started to drip feed the scandals, another 11 million papers to go.
the unionists are in coalition in most councils in scotland, it is they who will need to explain the school closures to the people. and if the initial reports are correct, this will also run and run.
Still Positive
Did you have light switches in your school?
So Willie Rennie says it’s because the SNP didn’t maintain the schools, and Ruth Davidson says it’s because the SNP didn’t maintain the schools.
But it’s a fault at the time the schools were built over 10 years ago. Nothing to do with maintenance.
Conclusion: Rennie and Davidson wouldn’t know a tank-top from a bolt gun. With apologies to the pigs.
@ defo see there,s to many klipes oan here, who telt you ah wiz athritic. Ah kin borrow ah Paslode fae ma Son if ah ever meet you know who he,ll get nailed doon , but you are awful making the Apprentice dey ah Jig lol , you must hiv been on ah Miller / Amey site nae heath an safety manny lol
https://caltonjock.com/2016/04/11/political-dogma-scottish-private-finance-project-awards-2000-2003-here-are-the-facts-of-the-debacle-damm-the-labour-party/
I watched the political programmes on STV and BBC2 at 10:30 concerning the closure of schools in Edinburgh I switched between the 2 channels trying to catch a word about who was in charge in the council during the PFI agreement.
Surprise ,surprise not a mention of Labour on either channel I think it is about time a statement, from the SNP, should be issued clarifying the true situation.
Agree that the SNP are doing well to let the unionists dig themselves into a very big hole.
Great articles today, as usual though I have been having huge probs accessing wings this evening, and wings on twitter. In order to find out if it was just a network problem I did a search for the liebour party, it couldn’t have loaded any quicker, and would not go away either. All very dodgy. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, night all.
OT
Interesting tweet from David Leask on his timeline (?):
“Do we yoon hacks now have to declare the English Gold we get? Or is the tax paid at source?”
He’d better be careful or it’ll become a Herald headline:
“Yoon Leask accused of being bought and sold”
Maintenance is meant to be included in a PFI contract or at least that was one of the few selling points. As such you might expect at least a minimal inspection routine in order to minimise any costs.
It’s a cliche that a new administration will try its best to lay the blame for as many failings as it can on its predecessors. This has to be one of the first where the opposite is attempted.
Ruby @ 11.58.
Yes in the old school but not so sure in the PFI new schools. One thing across all Glasgow secondary schools was the clocks. Controlled from a central point they were often out by either 4 or 8 hours. Was really off-putting for teachers towards the end of class.
Sturgeon calls for inquiry into Edinburgh schools crisis
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said:
“There are questions of course about what is happening around the quality of the building that has taken place, and yes we should examine those questions.”
https://archive.is/2lOPg
SNP and Labour clash following Dugdale’s pledge to protect local NHS services.
https://archive.is/O0Elj
12 APR 2016, Dairy Record
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/#jtRBmB7HMzLE6G3L.97
SNP’S FAILED SCHOOL-BUILDING POLICIES COMES BACK TO HAUNT THEM AS VOTERS PREPARE TO TEACH STURGEON A LESSON
Community coordinators in Edinburgh issued a word of warning to the SNP over its reckless and complacent school-building program which has resulted in 19 emergency school closures: “We will not stand idly by and watch our children’s well-being put in jeopardy!”
Lara Croft, speaking on behalf of ‘Mums For Justice’, warned “roofs and buildings falling on top of kids who are trying to learn is a potential public health issue”.
Mums For Justice are demanding a full pubic investigation and urging First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to take action. “We need 60 year old men with balding heads to sort this out Immediately!”
Why the hell must the SNP always play the nice guy time after time, even after this? If they are keeping their powder dry until after the election fair enough, but after it, SUE THE BASTARDS. Including political ones. FFS, enough is enough.
Stephen.
Papadox wrote:
“Ruth Davidson is a very nasty piece of work trying to shift the blame onto the SNP 10 -15 years after the work was done and had absolutely nothing to do with these contracts. Evil dangerous person.”
Aye, and only a mug would think differently. The establishment know that their Jock-o-lackys are pan breed and they’re putting the full force behind Toothy Roothy in a desperate bid to get one of their own into Holyrood. A self serving sinister sow!
Do any of our elders have any recollections of anyone in their time being pushed and promoted all over the country as much as Toothy Roothy is? They’re desperate and they’re bricking it!
Yes2snp2
I’m still annoyed about this PFI thing. Labour had the money sitting there to build these schools and instead they gave it to Westminster and then signed all of us up for decades of debt.
And our mainstream press is just a bunch of fudricks handing out Tory press releases, complete with spelling mistakes, or stuff that begins “SNP accused” or “SNP faces claims of”.
That’s it. That’s what consitutes most of the Scottish press. They get people to accuse their enemies of something and print it. You don’t need a degree for that. You don’t even need English speaking staff staff for that.
What a time to be Scottish.
@Valerie
“They are letting the guilty party set out their stall, then they know the key lines of attack, rather than respond piecemeal, and the hated tit for tat.”
Ayup, there’s a difference between being slow to respond to a situation and allowing your opposition time to commit to a position they can’t retreat from. 🙂
See also under sshhh, never interrupt your opponent when they are making a mistake.
@Macart
Indeed.
Nothing to stop us punters giving them a helping hand all the same.
We’re nice polite people, so friendly.
The quality of Dugdale, Davidson and Rennie today was appalling, particularly the last two. They didn’t even need to say anything apart from express concern for the pupils and parents and offer whatever help they could. Kneejerkers. #SNPbad
Enbra schools are fallin doon, fallin doon, fallin doon
They were built by Gordie Broon
And pish Labour
Haud the wall up, find the roof, find the roof, find the roof
The BBC will tell the truth
But no about Labour
The Forth road bridge is standing still, standing still, standing still
It did nae fa doon, it didnae kill
Piss off Labour
‘Public bad; Private Good.’
Maggie started all this.
Sell off ‘the family silver’ as SuperMac described it.
Tell Syd..
Council Houses
Britoil
BA
Railways
Get rid of public servants.
Sell off everything to our friends in the City.
Bring in Private Sector whizz kids to reform the civil service, and Health, Education, Law and Order..
Britain was open for business.
Aye, right.
Caltonjock has an excellent Hall of Shame walk through the PFI/PPP scandal up here.
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown merely took over where Thatcher and Major left off.
Tony Blair: ‘There is no such thing as a job for life. People have to be more flexible in work’.
Gordon Brown loved PFI. All those schools, hospitals, prisons, built under his watch, and not a penny’s expenditure appearing on the balance sheets.
It mattered not that we would be saddled with sky high debts for 25-50 years.
He would be long gone by then working for the Masters of the Universe.
Free schools, and no civil servants involved in Facilities Management, janitorial duties, building maintenance. The successful ITT bidder would cover all that:
Aye,right.
Blair and Brown were/are neo-conservatives.
To attempt to attach any blame for this PFI utter cock up at the door of the SNP now is disgusting, laughable, and deplorable.
Retrace steps back to the original tendering exercise. Who comprised the Procurement Panel? Were there more than one bidder?
Surely maintenance of the building, H&S checks, and so on were part of the PFI deal?
The absolute priority at the moment is to get pupils back to studying safely now, and hearteningly that is the Council’s, and Education Professionals’ first priority.
There is something utterly corrupt at the back of this.
@Yesindyref2
I think all the usual suspects have been given a chance to comment, issue press releases and commit their fav titles to a party line.
One little word from the FM should see the ground disappear from under their feet and that word is… inquiry. The collective omelette on face for all parties (though especially Labour) and the media, who simply could not help themselves, should make for a spectacular car crash of careers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2016-scotland-36013763
Oh and
https://www.holyrood.com/articles/news/edinburgh-pfi-schools-crisis-%E2%80%93-private-consortium-will-foot-bill
They put kids lives at risk for profit, cronyism and political gain dads. They’ve earned what’s coming down the track. This is a prime example of what needs to change about how politics is practiced.
Well it is obvious that lying, disinformation and pure propaganda isn’t classed as holding SG to account unless you are a quizzer yoon that is!
I am getting sick fed up with the SNP playing nice with anti Scottish Bigots!
Iain More wrote:
“I am getting sick fed up with the SNP playing nice with anti Scottish Bigots!”
Yes Iain! You, i and thousands of others and believe me when i say there are few people more impatient than i am but we all need to understand that this fight we’re all involved in is a multi-pronged attack and that we all have a role to play.
The SNP are playing a specific type of game where they need to be seen conducting themselves in a certain way. They have to be seen to be acting in a confident and responsible manner.
We on the other hand have no such restraints. I’ve voted SNP at every level for over 30-years but i would NEVER become a member of their party for that very reason. I’m too much of a free spirit or some might say loose cannon, i don’t do rules well.
You must remember that the majority of Scotland’s electorate are on the wrong side of 50 and although they’ll be no shrinking violets the majority of that age range (50+) usually don’t take too kindly to any form of aggressive behaviour.
Also, remember the unfair treatment Wee Eck got from the BUM and we all know why he got that – they couldn’t handle him in ANY situation so they turned his mildly aggressive style completely against him and tarred him (WRONGLY) as an aggressive wee bully etc.
Image is everything and we all have one whether you like it or not, political parties are no different. The key is to control that image at all times.
Let the SNP fight on their terms and turn your own frustrations into a positive – strive more to get the truth out there. Pick and choose your own legal ways of doing battle for the cause and get stuck right in there. It works for me!
One little word from the FM should see the ground disappear from under their feet and that word is… inquiry.
yup,
gonna be difficult, when these slab msps, mps and councilors are dragged up to give evidence, for the bbc to avoid mentioning that they are slab
nicola is right to let them mouth off at us on social media. they are digging their own graves
bring it on
@Macart / Stoker / cat
Yes, the SNP are doing it right and for this schools thing just need to concentrate on action, solution, exams, minimise disruption. And if neccessary help inter-council co-operation, talk to the SQA, UCAS, school heads.
Just as Sturgeon has done, that magic word “inquiry”, and then let LabLibCon go hang themselves, which they’re doing already. Davidson could have escaped but she saw the SNP and set her tank at them, straight into the Corryvrekan. She’s going down! She should have aimed sideyways at Labour, and the remnants of the LibDems.
From the Record yesterday McConnell was “too busy” to talk to them. He’ll be too busy right enough, soon enough.
Dan Huil says:
11 April, 2016 at 7:54 pm
Wait folks! It’s going to be okay! Nick Robinson is being parachuted in to do a totally unbiased news report on Edinburgh schools for tomorrow’s R4 news.
________________
“I asked Nicola Sturgeon if she is going to resign over this pfi fiasco, She didn’t answer; but she did attack…..”
Graeme James Borthwick
😉
On Topic. The Rev.’s headline lead me to expect an article on bampots and teacakes. Bit disjointed tbh. 😉
Disappointing even
Kezia Dugdale bleats that New Labour were forced to build hundreds of schools in Scotland because of the mess left by the Tories…
No you didn’t , Kezia. Private carpetbaggers built shoddy crumbling cheapo buildings which you rented at exorbitant rates, and with stupid 25/50 year tie-in contracts.
The solution to this little disaster, is to cancel the contracts (the buildings falling down seems a reasonable get out clause), and rent alternative accommodation from another source. There must be plenty of buildings available.
There is no doubt at all that EDC should demand a massive ‘rent rebate’ retro-fitted to the start of the ‘lease agreement’, given the sub standard quality of the accommodation.
I sincerely hope the perpetrators of this scam are brought to book for this.
In the meantime, dear Professor Tomkins, Higher Education is not a ‘privilege’, it is indeed a human right. Thank you for confirming what we already knew, you elitist Blue Tory.
To think that Tomkins, Sarwar, and that Lib Dem guy with the double barreled name whom we have never seen before but turned up as the LD’s Tax spokesperson on the BBC’s Tax Debate, will slide unheralded onto the benches at Holyrood and carp from the sidelines for the next five years, or less, if England opts to go it alone in the Big Bad World.
Sue the pants off the bastards, and jail the ringleaders.
Isn’t that what happened to the cowboys, who replaced 27 chimneys in an Edinburgh tenement, but charged for 35?
Appoint me as Witchfinder General. I’ll smoke the PPPastards out.
JackCollatin@6.06
Lovin the cut o yer gib there Jack.This story has been ready to break for the last few weeks and the Labour party are shitting themselves.
My daughter attended the original Oxgangs primary which was set on fire by some wee cretins(twice) and these sheisters runnin the cooncil couldnae wait tae throw up this pile o pish and trumpet it far and wide.
Jail time please!
These schools were built before there was a Scottish Parliament. The schools have been inspected and the faults found that will have to be rectified. Why are there complaints they have not been inspected. They have and other Councils have been advised to look for any faults. SNP Gov clearing up Unionist mess.
Some schools were built and thirty years later knocked down. A new one was built.
Some people have weird friends. With friends like these who needs enemies. If some ‘friends’ want £10Billion+ a year of Scottish money sent to Westminster Treasury to waste on Westminster polices instead of better spent in Scotland.Trident/illegal wars, banking fraud and tax evasion.
£4Billion on debt repayment Scotland doesn’t borrow or spend. £4Billion+ lost on Oil revenues. Oil sector taxed at 60/80% when the price has fallen 75%. Losing thousands of jobs. £1Billion could be saved with a tax on ‘loss leading’ cheap alcohol. £1Billion spent on Trident/illegal wars. £3Billion? lost in tax evasion. The wealthy making the tax evasion Laws. Thatcher established ‘tax havens’.
Cameron should include hs expenses. Police protection bill + trips at £10,000 in air force jets and helicopters. Instead of regular flights and a car hire.
20% of students are mature students (who come from poorer backgrounds?) but are ignored in the attainment figures.
Labour were means testing student loans on household incomes. Students of households of average earnings couldn’t get a full loan to go to University. They only got £1000+. They could get£3000? a year unemployment benefit. The SNP have changed it.
Kathleen Nutt of The National giving great PPB on behalf of the Greens on Radio Scotland’s election review of Glasgow seats attacking SNP policies at 7.15 am whil Labour’s Alf Young provides balance.
These aren’t newspapers. They are grotty wee toerags.
SLabour and STories have so horribly much to be ashamed of.
Nicola Sturgeon has called for enquiry into the PFI deals. I hope that exposes the reasons for the dangerous building practices that have put so many children at risk.
And was there corruption? Corruption akin to that within the Labour-led Edinburgh Council around that time? Yes Kesia, these questions need to be looked at…
These 17 schools were apparently a £360 million contract. Someone should be asking McConnell why they were done under PFI when he handed back £1.5 billion
This list really sticks with me.It should be a billboard
Many years ago watching my local team, I happened to be sitting beside the “Press” a goal was scored and all the reporters discussed the time of the goal, this was so that the all had the same time for their respective sports sections (ever wondered how the Mail and the Post always have the identical times for goals)I wonder how many phone calls were involved to arrive at this freakish coincidence.
BBC: no mention of Labour at all
BBC (story #2): no mention of Labour at all (even when making reference to the current Labour-controlled council)
STV: no mention of Labour at all
Daily Record: no mention of Labour at all
The Herald: no mention of Labour at all
Sunday Express: no mention of Labour at all
Edinburgh Evening News: no mention of Labour at all
Sunday Post: Labour only mentioned in Andy Wightman quote
Sunday Times: Labour only mentioned in Andy Wightman quote
The Scotsman: no mention of Labour at all, despite Wightman being quoted
Scottish Daily Mail: no mention of Labour at all, despite Wightman being quoted
O/T links
More info re PFI
http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/pfijuly06.pdf
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/snp-lanarkshire-rally-tickets-23045276041
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/04/11/tory-mp-thinks-hes-saved-camerons-career-accidentally-giving-whole-game-away-video/
Useless crap selling on ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222082102077
Iain More says:
I am getting sick fed up with the SNP playing nice with anti Scottish Bigots!
We are all impatient Iain but save your bile for the media, don’t turn it on the only party that has a chance of getting us out of this union.
Against the biggest propaganda exercise ever seen in peacetime Britain, with a late Vow thrown in, the SNP and yes movement took us within a whisker of winning the referendum.
In the general election, as the propaganda continued, with a late “Frenchgate” thrown in, we all but wiped the unionists off of the Scottish map.
As far as the majority of the population are concerned the SNP is doing something right. I sometimes think us political nerds underestimate their fellow citizens. Against all the odds and in the face of unrelenting UKOK propaganda they see through the shite. Doesn’t mean we have to drop our guard but we need to keep the real enemy in our sites.
SNP x 2
O/T links
http://www.euractiv.com/section/uk-europe/interview/graf-lambsdorff-eu-clearly-went-too-far-in-brexit-concessions/
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/04/11/the-petition-to-hold-a-snap-general-election-in-2016-is-going-viral/
http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/policy/politics/central-government/multiple-defeats-for-government-on-starter-homes/7014761.article
https://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/astonishing-working-benefit-claimants-to-face-financial-penalties-if-their-boss-files-tax-information-late/
boris says:
12 April, 2016 at 12:19 am
https://caltonjock.com/2016/04/11/political-dogma-scottish-private-finance-project-awards-2000-2003-here-are-the-facts-of-the-debacle-damm-the-labour-party/
Ruby replies
We’re short of cash for education because as is state in the above article:
‘Profit to the private sector from outsourcing to contractors arises from money previously ear-marked for the benefit of schools and their pupils.’
The same applies to the Health Service.
These private sector PFI companies are making huge profits.
Stagecoach has signed a deal with Alexander Dennis, Falkirk to build buses – worth £97Million.
In October, Alexander Dennis signed a deal with Chinese BYD to build electrified buses worth £2Billion.
https://thehoulet.net/2016/03/14/people-who-comment-on-scotsman-articles-identified-rescued/
O/T links
https://twitter.com/prcfry/status/719753772176695296?lang=en-gb
For more info re boiler rooms and shell companies google Gordon Bowden
The oily corrupt Alan Duncan calls people who aren’t rich, low achievers.
http://archive.is/HAh2b
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15653
Going by the amount of remedial wall ties being fitted there is one hell of a lot missing from the original building work. Those brick walls will be like Swiss cheese by the time they are finished drilling holes. Photographs of the walls, when they are finished, would be interesting. We can then count the missing ties for ourselves and estimate how much the gangsters skimmed from our schools. I wonder what else is hidden under that steaming pile of Labour PFI?
Almannysbunnet says:
12 April, 2016 at 7:55 am
I sometimes think us political nerds underestimate their fellow citizens.
Ruby replies
You could be right!
Most people may just see this Tory press release for exactly what it is.
I don’t think I would be too happy about it if I were a Tory activist I would be stuffing my Ruthie leaflets in the nearest bin and going home!
I’m assuming there are some decent intelligent Tory activists!
Architect. Malcolm Fraser on GMS nailed all the culprits without mentioning any party.He named the Scottish Executive,British Government and Local Authority in allowing a bad finance deal and a management system that allowed the companies to regulate themselves.So he made obvious that Tories,Labour and Lib/dems were responsible.
As for the Tory attempt to blame the SNP for not having the absurd notion that educationist inspectors inspect buildings along with classroom teaching he treated that with scorn by just saying that up to the catastrophic failure of one of the schools you would”have had to take the buildings apart” to inspect it properly.
Famous15
Very interesting. I will definitely listen to that when it comes onto the iplayer.
Re PFI: The Keiser report on RT this morning is not missing anyone and hitting the wall.
From what I can work out an average PFI contract costs between 5 and 7 times the original cost of the building. A standard mortgage costs about twice as much as you borrow if you take it to full term.
At the end of the mortgage you own the property. At the end of a PFI contract you own sweet F.A.
Labour financial genius at its finest. Kezia and rentahonk have the nerve to defend this and the BBC would herd us like sheep into voting for them.
SNP x 2 then a very public enquiry.
Ayup, it appears those three little letters are doing the rounds this morning… PFI and the other shoe dropping is long overdue on this issue.
So Labour – criminal and inept, or criminally inept.
Its a tough call.
Keiser again: “Cameron, Osborne, Obama – a hard core group of Global gangsters”.
Whatever you do, don’t mention the “Labour Party”.
Andy Whiteman mentioned them once but I think he got away with it.
Accept that the media are biased. Even if Scotland was Independent now we would still have a biased media due to private ownership.
In an Independent Scotland we will still have propaganda forced upon us by our neighbour for many years after a YES vote.
Keep telling the truth and you will eventually get through. The SNP government has taken the correct approach – ignore the attacks, remain polite and be competent.
…the results speak for themselves!
Anent PFI and SLAB/Gordy.
This is very simple. PFI was “bribing people with their own money”
A few years ago I worked in Libya (GSPLAJ as was then}. The main contractor supplied Toyota Land Cruisers for the construction. These were appropriated instantly by the Libyan client managers. The fun was that the vehicles were “bottom of the range” but the project was invoiced for “top of the range models”. Hence the contractor had a scam going unbeknown to the client.
Bribing people with their own money has a downside when the people sus it out. SLAB/Gordy you’ve ben sussed. Tick Tock.
SNP SNP EU
Sorry, but my last comment should have read ‘Global Financial Gangsters’.
This Guardian Education article, is the only one I’ve seen in the MSM which is in any way informative or accurate. Perhaps because it is in a section of the paper intended for consumption by actual teachers: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/apr/11/serious-defects-two-more-edinburgh-schools-built-using-pfi
Ruthie on radio shortbread phone in, driving her armoured car over all the callers so far and stated off by claiming the SNP didn’t have an adequate schools inspection policy.
She did say PFI was the labour /libedems fault and smeared the SNP by claimimg it is carrying it on under NFP schemes.
“Call me Ruth…not Ms davidson I’m not my mum”. 🙂
Sounds a cushie affair on GMS so far but early days yet!
SNP X 2 FGS!
I found this article (from 1998) about PFI schools in Edinburgh on the City of Edinburgh branch of Unison. Thought it may be relevant to this thread.
http://www.unison-edinburgh.org.uk/pfi.html
Edinburgh council has a very bad record of planning and building control. The trams, compulsory repairs, new schools.
The yoons that control Edinburgh council have a lot of questions to answer and answer they should they are not fit for purpose and haven’t been for a long time. A public ENQUIRY is now headed to resolve any and all outstanding concerns.
O/T
With the selective release of the Panama papers by the non-Dom, non tax paying press owners, now is a good time to read ‘Treasure Islands’. I know it’s been mentioned on here before but it shows what a sham the press releases are.
Tax havens are the creation of the British state. Simple.
Circulate it to all your no voting friends.
http://treasureislands.org
I don’t see much mention of the Liberal Democrats in this PFI debacle. They are to blame as much as Labour as it was a Lab/LD coalition that pushed through these expensive PFI schemes.
@Marcia 9-43am
The Libdems can quite easily slither under any problem they see, then rise like a rank odour on the other side. Give Rennie a bit of time…..
Lazy, Lazy journalism (of sorts)
Scottish media continues its oblivious free-fall.
If observers from oversees see this they must wonder what the hell is the story with such a detached and dysfunctional bunch of morons, who either don’t understand or don’t care about the general public’s mood or perception of values.
Position(s) Vacant Scotland –
Investigative journalist with backbone and some sense of moral compass would be a clear advantage.
@call me dave
You are a better person than me. I’m such a coward and to save high rises in blood pressure, I don’t listen to radio shortbread anymore but can follow their antics on the Revs twitter or on here!
Thanks for the update!
Prof John Robertson must be having a field day after yesterday’s BBC ‘productions’!! Hope he was taking his usual notes.
What a total shower of bas***ds those Pacific Quay Labour-lovers really are!
O/T
Re earlier link, shame on ebay for cancelling the listing.
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/04/11/david-cameron-has-been-put-up-for-sale-on-ebay-and-no-its-not-satire/
Everybody close your eyes for a few moments and imagine a future independent Scotland. Imagine we didn’t give all that taxpayers’ money to middle class people in the public sector and all those horrible little agencies that swarm around social problems.
Imagine we took all that money and invested in industry and high technology. Imagine all those people who are currently bribed to sit on the sidelines taking part, in an economy that was booming and vibrant.
Imagine average earnings were so high that ordinary people had second houses in that beautiful countryside of ours, and boats: whole new aspects of life, communities, and economies opening up that didn’t exist before.
Now look at what we have now. Middle class mediocrity and methadone clinics. That’s it basically. Nothing else to add.
I’m no Tory as some would have it. Ruth Davidson is as guilty of pandering to the right as Kezia and Labour are of pandering to the left. It’s all lies and spin and crap.
We”ve become a nation of sheep, listening to the very morons who shepherd us.
Papadox says:
12 April, 2016 at 9:31 am
Edinburgh council has a very bad record of planning and building control. The trams, compulsory repairs, new schools.
The yoons that control Edinburgh council have a lot of questions to answer and answer they should they are not fit for purpose and haven’t been for a long time. A public ENQUIRY is now headed to resolve any and all outstanding concerns.
Does anyone know what happened with the Scottish parliament building fiasco (remember that one)? Way over-budget, dodgy deals, falling to bits and Labour involved at the very heart. Sounds familiar? Heads should have rolled but an inquiry seemed to trundle along for ages and fizzled out when the media (and the country) got bored with it all. I guess the red tories had lots of time to shred the documents.
Neoconservative..
WTF? Not sure I share your vision.
Second homes for all?
I’d prefer supportive communities dictating requirements to democratically elected governments.
From the SNP website:
“With the closure of 17 schools in Edinburgh due to safety concerns, all SNP candidates in Edinburgh will work to represent the interest of pupils and parents – and get them the answers they deserve.
Our first priority is to get pupils back in safe schools as soon as possible.
With the closure of 17 schools in Edinburgh due to safety concerns, pupil safety and minimising disruption for parents and families are our first and most important priorities. As we approach the busy exam period, this is more crucial than ever.
I therefore welcome the steps already taken by the council, with support from the Scottish Government, to ensure we get pupils back to work in safe schools as soon as possible.
This will be an unsettling time for our young people, but it is right that we all put safety first.
However, in time questions will have to be answered about why these schools were not fit for purpose and how these old PFI deals were reached.
It was John Major’s Tory government that invented PFI. Despite the repeated warnings of the SNP, trade unions and independent academics over the quality of the buildings and the profits being made by private companies, Labour and the Lib Dems embraced PFI with open arms. Labour’s lust for PFI was such that they even refused to allow councils to sign not-for-profit deals.
In Edinburgh we pay £40 million every year for Labour’s ill-thought out PFI contract. Over the lifetime of Labour’s flawed PFI contract in Edinburgh, we will have to pay an astronomical £1.2 billion for schools that cost just £300 million to build.
Labour should be thoroughly embarrassed by this farce. But the inquiries will come later, the priority now is to get our young people back into their school buildings and to make sure those buildings are safe.
Edinburgh City Council must take control of these PFI school buildings.
My colleague Jim Eadie, SNP candidate in Edinburgh Southern, has written to the Leader of Edinburgh Council calling on him to take decisive action.
It is clear that under the contracts these schools are managed the city council can take over the operation of the buildings. And, they must – to ensure the safety of our children and guarantee that not a penny more of public money is wasted on these badly managed PFI contracts.”
So our glorious BritNat dysfunctional media are happy to print Tory ‘press releases’ (aka propaganda) while entirely ignoring the truth of the situation presented on the SNP’s website?
Keep the masses ignorant. Keep the truth hidden. Away and f*** yerselves Scottish Corporate Unionist Media. You are an UTTER DISGRACE to your profession and to the people of Scotland.
Luigi at 10.07
The Scottish parliament wasn’t hugely over budget, just described as such by the unionist media that determined to undermine the institution in any way it could.
It actually cost less than an office block that was built as an extension to the Westminster Parliament a the same time
@NeoconNat says:
12 April, 2016 at 10:02 am
We”ve become a nation of sheep, listening to the very morons who shepherd us.
The thing is we haven’t become a nation of sheep and that is what’s pissing off the media, Ruthie, Kezia et al. They can’t comprehend why it’s not working.
Here’s something to imagine. Imagine if we had a fair and balanced media.
NeoconNat says: Less of the “We’ve become a nation of sheep”
There are no sheep here, we have all become wolves thus the Shepherd is having one hell of a time herding us.
People need to keep up the word on the streets that this is a council problem not government. Council wanted autonomy, well on this occassion they had it and they are the sheep well and truly fleeced, well they fleeced us to pay for it.
I have a bee in my own personal bonnet having lived across from a PFI school here in Dunfermline. It was constantly being screwed together, tons of salt put down round it when there was a small frost, even had men blow drying the playground with a leaf blower when it WAS RAINING, I ask you. Both new schools were built using PFI and I know both were over subscribed after being open a year. The one I used to over look will now need to be extended considering that they had to reconfigure the school rolls to take into account the new houses being built opposite and there will be more when they build even more houses opposite the motorway. Mean while the School that Cara Hilton could not remember voting to close has been demolished, now that is one seat I want to see return to the SNP.
Does anyone know what happened with the Scottish parliament building fiasco (remember that one)?
They chose the wrong construction contract, mostly. It meant that all the risk was on the tax payer. So when costs started to over run, various non architect politicos and their spouses wanted design changes, tweaks etc, the builder let them have at it. Its only someone else’s money.
There’s quite a lot of WTF over Holyrood construction. The original architect had never designed anything as large or important as a new parliament, in fact he’d hadnt done much at all, some houses and extensions, all this in a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Current UKOK yoonsters of Edinburgh are causing so much damage to Edinburgh, demolishing so much of it, Edinburgh’s World Heritage Site status is under threat. We should be really annoyed with yoons. You want to see what they’ve done to Aberdeen.
I agree with most of the posters on here that the SNP’s go-slow approach is the correct strategy at this stage. Yes it’s bloody frustrating at times when the yoons and their media seem to get away with anything, but rest assured, they ain’t getting away with it. The time of reckoning approaches. The yoons biggest mistake is to treat the electorate like idiots. Most people are cautious, but they are not daft and resent being treated as such. It does not take a genius to figure out when these schools were built and which parties were responsible. Trust the people, they are watching and pennies are dropping all over Edinburgh.
There will be a time for the SNP gloves to come off, but not yet – let the yoons show their hand and overplay as they always do. The counter attack will be savage and they won’t know what hit them. At this stage the SNP has to act like a responsible government, not a knee-jerk headlong jump into the blame game. The yoons play dirty but the SG has to stay above it all.
Besides, the dirty street-fighting is our job! Let the SG get on with the job of governing and sorting pout the mess created by the yoons. With WoS, WGD and other indy blogs fighting the dirty war effectively, we protect the SG’s flanks. We’ve got them covered. 🙂
The thing that stood out for me in Caltonjock’s piece,
https://caltonjock.com/2016/04/11/political-dogma-scottish-private-finance-project-awards-2000-2003-here-are-the-facts-of-the-debacle-damm-the-labour-party/
is that Amey ‘…was also involved in a large number of public sector services, including Railtrack (it was a contractor at the time of the Hatfield crash).’
I seem to remember that much of the maintenance work on the lines was being done by day-labourers. Around the same time there something about the London Underground’s maintenance and repair work also using day-labourers.
If much of our work was also being done by the first 20 people in the queue at a street corner each day it would probably explain why something as basic as ties were missing from the walls.
Of course, using the contractors assoc blacklist of trades people who worry about health and safety wouldn’t have helped either.
Luigi@10.07am
Luigi, there was an enquiry into the expenditure re the parliament building fiasco, 2007/2008.
You can find it in pdf, online. I just googled it, it came up as, ‘Lord Fraser Inquiry into Holyrood Building Project’account of expenditure’.
I seem to remember it went on for weeks, was quite a costly exercise and waste of money, no one got their knuckles wrapped!
The papers have been pathetic in their analysis of the PFI scandal. The BBC not quite so bad – a couple of times now I have heard people say that this is not good news for Labour. Ruth’s attempt to say burly men stopped inspections of schools or something equally inane cuts little ice. It is too obviously political spin and we haven’t forgotten who invented PFI (even if Ruth has).
One of the joys of social media is the sheer number of people that use it and the ease with which one can create a meme. There have been umpteen humorous pictures of shoddy or bizarre builds with the caption “Labour PFI”.
They can spin all they like but funny pictures and videos on Twitter and Facebook will be viewed whereas some turgid prose in the Record from a hack will not.
Dennis’ Dodgy Dave clip is also proving popular if the chat in the office is anything to go by.
This shows clearly that the British media in Scotland is orchestrated.
Should this not be a case for the European courts?
It was only ever going to be a matter of time before a unionist party would attempt to place the blame for Labour’s PFI schools falling down, on the SNP for refusing
calls for School building checks.
I also read in the National that Dugdale has said she will not be apologising for Labour building new schools.
HaggisHunter
I think newspapers can pretty much spin things politically as they like. They are not bound by a supposed impartiality code like the BBC.
The important thing is to expose their spin, bias and lies. That is why sites like this are so useful.
I also read in the National that Dugdale has said she will not be apologising for Labour building new schools.
I say that yesterday too and laughed. Nice try Kezia but no cigar.
No one is asking you to apologise for building schools…they want an apology for building shoddy second rate schools.
“We”ve become a nation of sheep”
Indeed, SNP Baa-aad sheep.
Peter McCulloch @ 10:46 am
To be fair on Kez “The Deputy Dug” the Dugdale, gallant Captain of the sinking ship. Iceberg we cried!
She probably didn’t understand the question.
Are Police Scotland looking into the whereaboots of Jackie Bailie? Not been seen for days and people are concerned. Not me, other people.
”
yesindyref2 says:
11 April, 2016 at 10:05 pm
@NeoconNat
If it’s a tool you’re looking for, try looking in the mirror.”
Wish I’d seen that before I went to bed, it would have cheered me up.
The SG is behaving honestly, properly and competently, frustrating as it is for all of us wanting to dish out a quick knockout blow to Labour and the other Unionists over this school scandal. However, there is the old saying, keep telling the truth and sooner or later you’ll get found out.
I suspect the SG will have a full enquiry timed to sum up before next year’s elections and that will completely finish Labour. Make no mistake, Scotland can’t move forward properly without getting rid of them from the councils: they are the dead hand on the tiller making life worse for us all in Scotland.
As for the Scottish Parliament, the obvious choice was the old Royal High School building, which had presence, gravitas and was highly visible. Of course, the Unionists didn’t want any of that, so they chose a nice out of the way site for what they hoped would be a glorified town council building, as Blair said.
The “Scottish” MSM have really just dug themselves a deeper grave over their mis-reporting of Labour and PFI.
RIP, not. Rot in Hell more like. Can journalism get any lower?
As Bart would say, “So long, suckers!”
One of reason WoS is held in such high regard is BTL commenters,wingers invariably,draw back from the story,take an overview,know shit when they smell it,then comment.
The yoon branch managers,what can you say that hasn’t been said already,we all know that if yoon central told them to eat fibreglass insulation,it’s really candy floss they would,irrespective of the itchy stomach consequences.
We are,well aware of the pro Indy bias that critics of WoS,spout as if it is a bad thing,well most of the MSM/BBC have a yoon bias so IMO WoS goes someways to balance things out.
The main reason WoS is held in high esteem however is,the Rev puts the work in and backs it up the story with FACTS.
Keep up the good work sir,I have a good feeling about these recent developments (Panama/PFI), the truth is always the truth,the said cannot be unsaid,the seen unseen,the spun unspun.
SNP x 2
It’s all very well to insist that the local council take over the running of these schools but before that happens careful consideration of the impact that would have on the amount paid should be taken. Why the hell should the public pay twice because a job wasn’t being done in the first place? It might be far more beneficial to sue for breech of contract, assuming it was actually negotiated properly in the first place.
Whilst it might be tempting to simply go for a nationalisation or compulsory purchase it’d be best to check just how much work will be needed to ensure these buildings are up to standard.
And yet somehow, despite the existence of an SNP government, our local council manages to have inspections in place and apparently ‘detailed building surveys planned for the summer’.
http://www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/article/3544/Statement-on-PPP-school-buildings
Miraculous.
Peter McCulloch at 10.46
But Labour didn’t build any new schools. They merely ordered them to be built but didn’t pay for any of them.
interesting layout
vote.cutbot.net/forecast/70492541
dont agree with everything, rennie will win 6th seat in fife mid scot
orkney more likely a libdem win than shetland, no change in overall score though
eastwood gain to tories?? wtf
even if you do believe in tactical voting it has to be snp1&2 in the south
@NeoconNat
You’re a bit of a weirdo which doesn’t make you a bad person.
I spent a good amount of time on Wealthy Nation, getting answers to the likes of the currency, sterlingisation, central bank, all that stuff. It’s renamed itself Wealthy Institute I see:
http://www.wealthynationinstitute.com/
It’s a website for essentially Conservative YES voters, but perhaps of the Scottish Conservative nature rather than a UK Tory one, and what it said was something like:
“We’re voting YES not in spite of being Conservatives, but because of it”.
It’s a message mostly missing from the first independence referendum, but I agree with them, a free Scotland could be a brilliant place for Conservatives, unfettered by the blinkers of Westminster, free to generate wealth, which the lefties could spend!
And conservatives with a small c represent perhaps 30% of Scotland’s electorate. We need them for a YES vote in Indy Ref 2, it would make it a shoo-in.
If that’s your message, why not make it?
so when more powers were devolved to the Scottish parliament everyone and their dog called for decentalisation/more powers to be devolved to local councils, until of course it is convenient to bash the nats for not centralising a power, their contempt for the electorate grows exponentially
Time for a thorough investigation into the Labour cronyism and backhanders involved in the PFI/PPP schemes. McConnell (That’s Lord McConnell to you and I) bullied and bribed councils (including Labour councils) into accepting PPI. Brown nominates Miller construction executive for C.B.E
Repairs and maintenance contracts passed over to private consortium (Edinburgh Schools Partnership)
Come on SNP. This is your big chance to administer the fatal blow. Let’s get some of these scumbags up on charges of fraud, profiteering and negligence. Let’s ram the tories accusations back down their throats.
I also think the S.N.P. Are not retaliating enough it is all very well to say keep calm and be loyayal to the parties tactics but where does loyalty end and stupidity begin ?
Blair
Agree. SNP since YES campaign appeared to think they had to be nice to the media. Too many PR folk on YES campaign made it clear that they wouldn’t attack the press or news media in case they got bad press!
Maybe the next snp advert can spend 3 mins on the labour tory lib dem scheme as to how they waste billions.
then finish off new forth road bridge, borders railway, new Aberdeen by pass M74 ETC.
Get stuck in I say.
@Dave McEwan Hill says:
12 April, 2016 at 11:56 am
Of course you are correct that Labour didn’t build any schools, they were built and owned by the private consortia who lease them back to local authorities.
But that’s not the narrative Labour likes to peddle to the public, how often have we heard on TV Labour politicians boasting about all the new schools they have either built or refurbished.
One of the big problems with NPD, the SNP better replacement for PFI / PPP is this from the FT:
“But the ONS concluded that under EU rules issued last year, the Scottish government’s control over the bodies set up to manage the Aberdeen bypass and its share of the economic rewards from the project meant it should be considered part of the public sector.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7d8aac14-37a0-11e5-b05b-b01debd57852.html#axzz45ctk8bvu
and this quote shows how vastly much better NPD is than PPP, a ratio of just less than 2 to 1 over 30 years rather than whatever Labour’s schools were, 4, 6, 8? I forget:
“the Aberdeen bypass, which has a capital value of £745m and will cost £1.45bn over 30 years when maintenance and loan repayments are included.“
By the way, I’m very impressed with that NPD deal for the Aberdeen bypass, presuming ownership does pass to the SG after the 30 years which I’m pretty sure it does.
With QDM (Quick Dirty Maths), it works out at 3.3% flat rate, about 6.6% APR, BUT includes maintenance which of course a mortgage doesn’t.
I happened to notice the Daily Wail’s headline today on the subject which was something along the lines of “School safety checks ignored!”. So not alarmist in any way shape or form then? Not suggesting *at all* that safety checks where done, but the Scottish Government ignored the results?
A quick read of the article suggested that it was in fact just the same story, but with a headline designed for maximum “SNPBad!”.
How many of these politicians involved in the PFI taxpayer rip-off have been rewarded by getting jobs in the private sectors?
Labour did not build any schools what they did was privatise the building of schools/hospital etc. and allowed the private sector to make huge profits.
‘Both Richard Bacon and Ms Hodge have heavily criticised David Metter, chief executive of Innisfree, one of the biggest PFI investors. His firm manages investments in 19 hospitals, more than 260 schools and defence contracts alone worth nearly £3?billion.
Thanks to an acute financial brain, and a singular lack of sentimentality, Mr Metter has become very rich — earning £8.6?million last year.
But why blame people such as Mr Metter? He was simply responding to the call from Gordon Brown’s Treasury to take over the funding and running of a host of state projects.
The truth is that it is government ministers, both Labour and Conservative, who have found PFI deals irresistible because they allow them to take large swathes of spending off the country’s balance sheet in the short-term — and load them on to the PFI ‘credit card’ instead.’
From JOHN WARE on the billion-pound ‘racket’ behind our schools and hospitals
https://archive.is/ymDAw
Heh teacher we need another brick in the wall.
The writing on the wall:
http://moflomojo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/the-writing-on-wall.html